Dirty Dancing (1987)

First movie out of my list of recommendations is from Marilyn from MKG-Memories-Keepsakes-Gifts back in February during my Valentine’s Marathon. Seemed like a good night to keep the energy going and stream on Netflix: Dirty Dancing! Who doesn’t love a little Patrick Swayze? Plus, I’ve never seen this before…so lets check it out!

Director: Emile Ardolino

Cast: Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Orbach, Cynthia Rhodes, Jane Brucker, Kelly Bishop, Lonny Price, Jack Weston

Dr. Jack Houseman (Jerry Orbach) and his wife (Kelly Bishop) and two teenage daughters Lisa (Jane Brucker) and Frances/”Baby” (Jennifer Grey) are going on summer holiday at a resort.  As Baby plans on being in the Peace Corps the following year, this would be the last year she can experience being a carefree teenage.  At the resort, she meets dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) and in an event that happens with his partner, Penny (Cynthia Rhodes), she takes up learning how to dance to be in an important performance for them and falls in love with him.

There’s something about these older dance/romance/music/drama flicks that really make me love them a lot.  I found the first 15 minutes to be a tad long and meh but once we got Johnny Castle kicking it up with his dancing, it started being totally awesome! Heck, even before that first dance, the moment Patrick Swayze was on screen, Jennifer Grey’s expression was totally priceless and I was captured by the whole movie right there. Then you add in some sexy dirty dancing and lots of romancing and learning how to dance, fun music, it was absolutely the time of my life 🙂

The first thing that defines a good romance (drama or comedy) is the chemistry between our lovers.  Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze was totally awesome.  Their chemistry was OFF THE CHARTS! I mean, in my mind, I’ve already fallen in love with Patrick Swayze millions of times in the movies his done but man, I wish I was Jennifer Grey at that very moment. This movie reminds of how the death of Patrick Swayze at such an early age is such a huge loss.  However, we can still see his energy alive in these awesome flicks.  He’s done some amazing stuff.

Jennifer Grey was fantastic as Baby.  The character of Baby was designed in a pretty realistic way.  In one way, I could slightly relate to the situation of growing up the way she did.  Of course, I never thought of joining the Peace Corps or saving lives.  I’d love to but her character makes me wish I could be and do a lot more.  Some may see her as naive and clueless but sometimes, thats what makes her a bigger and better person and turns her into a courageous person.  Its quite an inspiring role because her character ends up changing how she is into a good way and influencing others around her also, like Patrick Swayze’s Johnny Castle.

There are millions of other aspects I could talk about that was good.  The cast itself other than the main two and Penny was totally cool.  Jerry Orbach, who played Baby’s father was awesome. Dirty Dancing is definitely a recommendable flick if you like music/romance/drama.  It was fun and entertaining and had me moving to the music throughout the movie with a huge smile on my face.  Nothing beats feel good quite like this 🙂 Plus, we have a very charming Patrick Swayze and man, makes me want to rewatch all his movies. He was a great actor!

Thank you to Marilyn for her long  ago mention of this movie back in February 🙂 I loved it!

And you should definitely go check out her blog if you haven’t, she’s totally awesome and really artistic 🙂 I put her link to her name on the top.  Make sure to check it out!

Any other Patrick Swayze or dance flicks you’d like to recommend to me? Have you seen Dirty Dancing? What did you think?